And perjured traitors filled the place
Where good men sate before.
With savage glee came Warriston
To read the murderous doom;
And then uprose the great Montrose
In the middle of the room:

"Now, by my faith as belted knight
And by the name I bear,
And by the bright St. Andrew's cross
That waves above us there--
Yea, by a greater, mightier oath--
And O that such should be!--
By that dark stream of royal blood
That lies 'twixt you and me--
I have not sought in battle-field
A wreath of such renown,
Nor dared I hope on my dying day
To win the martyr's crown!

"There is a chamber far away
Where sleep the good and brave,
But a better place ye have named for me
Than by my father's grave.
For truth and right, 'gainst treason's might,
This hand has always striven,
And ye raise it up for a witness still
In the eye of earth and heaven.
Then nail my head on yonder tower--
Give every town a limb--